ped up the wide steps. The
guard opened the door and they saw that the hallway was dark. Allison
roared at the fellow and he came to a stiff salute, presenting arms.

"General Bolero," Allison snapped. "We would speak to him."

The boys did not understand, but they caught the general's name and had
an idea. The guard protested but Allison thrust several papers at him.
He had taken the papers from the officer's pocket but had no idea what
they were. When the man started to use a pocket flashlight to read the
papers, Allison smashed the light out of his hand, roaring at him about
the blackout.

The soldier was thoroughly cowed. He turned and started down the hallway
with the boys close behind him. Tony had found the window barred on the
outside and had joined the others. He nudged Stan as they halted before
a door. It was the very room Arno had said his father would be kept in.

The guard unlocked the door. As it opened, a flood of light shone over
the men. The general's window had been boarded up, so he was allowed a
light. He was sitting at a little table writing. Stan did not wait to
see any more. He knew the guard was wise the moment he saw the raiders
in the bright light. Their shoes and trousers gave them away as well as
their faces. Stan had moved along very close to the guard. His arm went
out in a perfect commando attack and before the guard had time to shout
he was silenced and heaved into the room.

In an instant Tony was across the room and in his father's arms. Arno
stood beside them gripping one of the general's arms. The general looked
over Tony's shoulder at Stan and Allison.

"I am honored," he said.

"Turn out the light," Stan ordered.

The general shoved Tony aside and switched off the light. "You have
taken greater chances than you should. I am hardly worth the effort."

When he had ceased speaking they listened. Several men were moving down
the hall, talking in angry voices.

"That is the commandant of this post. I know his voice. He has with him
a number of his officers," the general said in a low voice.

"They'll wonder where the other guard is," Stan said. "We better jerk
the boards off that window and get out of here."

"That cannot be done," the general said. "They are planks, not boards,
and they are spiked to the outside of the house."

Allison had opened the door a crack. "They have turned on the light.
There's five of them, and they seem excited."

"How far down the hallway?"